Greeding The Meter
April 27, 2010
Recently, several green parking meters have popped up in and around Downtown Las Vegas, but since I don’t pay to park, I didn’t realize what they were until they began making headlines.
Homeless Donation Station Meter in Downtown Las Vegas
Homeless Donation Station Meter in Downtown Las Vegas
Las Vegas has set up refurbished parking meters as “donation stations” where people can donate spare change to help the city’s homeless people.
Mayor Oscar Goodman and City Council members Steve Wolfson, Ricki Barlow and Lois Tarkanian christened one of the stations in front of City Hall on Monday.
Wolfson, who said he frequently gives money to panhandlers around the Regional Justice Center, said the program is a better way to give money to homeless people.
“It’s going to guarantee that the money … provides for the real needs for our homeless,” he said.
The city of Las Vegas will maintain the meters, with the money passing through the city’s Homeless Services program to pay for shelter, transportation and other needs. The meters are painted bright green and are labeled so as not to be confused with regular parking meters.
The donation meters have been operating since Wednesday, and one — at the corner of Main Street and the Fremont Street Experience — already has been filled. Meters can hold about $75, depending on the denomination of the coins inside.
Other locations are City Hall plaza, the City Hall sky bridge connecting to the parking garage, the Port of Subs at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Stewart Avenue, the Las Vegas Marriage Bureau, the Arts District at 107 E. Charleston Ave. and the Las Vegas Premium Outlets mall bus stop on Grand Central Parkway.
That’s right friends, you read right, the most homeless-unfriendly town in the USA has decided that, low and behold, it wants you to help the homeless.
Goodman insisted more money and services are not necessary. He noted that the city’s 400 emergency shelter beds are often not full. “No one is turned away,” he said.
Eh?
Believe me when I tell you this … our city officials care about homeless people as much as George W. Bush cares about black people, and according to Kanye, this is not very much.
This is the same city that made it illegal to voluntarily give food to the homeless people in public parks. This is the same city which razed dozens of tents on our skid row. This is the same city who’s mayor declared “”I won’t coddle the homeless”, and proposed shipping them to an abandoned prison.
If you think this city is going to use your money to “help the homeless”, then you my friend, are a tardwit of magnanimous proportions.
There are currently an estimated 13,000 homeless people in Las Vegas, and we are currently building a completely gratuitous and unnecessary new City Hall with $146 million in taxpayer money. This equates to $11,230 per homeless person. That’s a lot of ripped jeans and ramen noodles.
Yet, instead of using available tax dollars to help our people in need, the city wants your quarters. That’s right, the city itself has become a pandhandler.
The people in city government looked out of their windows, saw the money our local beggars were collecting, and decided they wanted in on the action. Instead of sitting outside in the heat, however, these officials realized that we had a few spare parking meters laying around that could do the job. So as not to look like a bunch of greedy panhandling pricks, they came up with some scheme about collecting the money on behalf of the homeless (who we ostensibly care for all of a sudden), and it appears that everyone in the media bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Homeless Donation Station Meter in Downtown Las Vegas
Accountable and 70% accurate my hairy ass.
I don’t understand how anyone has been able to report this story with a straight face.
Personally, if I have a desire to give money to panhandlers, I … GASP … give it directly to the panhandler. It’s quick, efficient, and I know exactly how much money has been delivered to my charity. 100%.
“But, but, but, but Rex! What if the panhandlers use the money you give them to buy alcohol … or worse … drugs?!?!”
Good for them!
Maybe drugs or alcohol will make their lives a little more enjoyable, or at least a little less fucking horrible. Is that not the point of giving them money? Isn’t alcohol the first thing a tourist buys when they get off of the airplane? They seem to like it. For God’s sake, our Mayor runs around in a drunken stupor while on the job, and we still pay him every two weeks.
I’m under no illusion that my dollar and twelve cents is going to turn the life of a panhandler around. I don’t expect them to use the money to run to Kinko’s to make copies of their resume.
If the panhandler I give money to buys a sandwich, he buys a sandwich. If he puts the money toward clothes, swell. If he buys a 40oz bottle of Old English, the more power to him. Just because someone is poor doesn’t mean that I know what is best for them. Maybe they are happy living under a bridge getting shitfaced all day. Are all of the unemployed underwater homeowners in this town really any happier because they only have 27 payments left on their Toyota in the driveway?
Anybody with half a brain in this town is miserable … we just pick our own version of hell.
Not only that, but this entire town is a panhandler. From the cashier at Starbucks to the doorman at Bellagio to the slot jockey hovering when you hit a Royal Flush … we’re all goddamn beggars. Every last one of us.
Needless to say, I strongly disagree with the premise of these meters because it puts an unnecessary middleman between the giver and the receiver. It implies a moral superiority of those collecting the money, and believe me when I tell you … our city government cannot claim to be morally superior to a cockroach, much less another human being.
Also, I think I am being pretty accurate when I opine that little or none of this money will really go to “help the homeless”. Instead, much of it will find its way into “administrative costs”. Be it salaries for people who install the meters, gasoline costs for people who maintain and collect the meters, or overhead for one of the “charities” that gets the money … only a small percentage of the cash will not be cannibalized. You might as well keep it, or pump it into the economy by buying another beer.
If you happen to be Downtown anytime in the near future, please laugh at these meters, piss on these meters, fellatiate these meters — anything except put money into them. These things are so incredibly insulting, that I would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize for the town in which I live. Forgive the idiots who live here, for they know not what they do. They’re just stupid and greedy.
Homeless Donation Station Meter in Downtown Las Vegas
If you are in Las Vegas, and you feel like giving someone money to help them fulfill their wants … just hand money to that person.
With one exception.
If you happen to see our esteemed Mayor walking around town, whatever you do, don’t give HIM any money.
He’ll just spend it on booze.
Written by thomas coe on April 27, 2010 at 3:35 am
that’s an interesting take on money receptacles for the homeless. i can’t imagine that the govt would take that money and not give it to the people it intends to help, but it is vegas, and normal shiat doesn’t happen.
i will onlly give cash to the actual people. thanks for letting us know about these things.
is there any way to follow how the money is spent that was collected from these things???
Written by Rex on April 27, 2010 at 3:50 am
Somewhere around 99% of charities and causes are bogus, IMHO.
People use causes to make money because it sells. If you look at the sign on the meter, it says “Donation Station to End Homelessness”.
The meter holds a maximum of $75. How will that end homelessness?
Like “Race for a Cure” most anything with ridiculous and unattainable slogans are scams.
I don’t know of any way to follow the money from these meters. I assume it gets buried in the government accounting somewhere, but even then … the government supposedly hands over the remaining change to homeless “organizations” … and it will get lost from there.
Basically, instead of giving a homeless guy a dollar directly, that dollar will have to pass through two middlemen.
Anyone who thinks that is efficient has one and a half screws loose.
But hey, at least the homeless guy won’t get a buzz.
That’s the most important thing.
Written by brian on April 27, 2010 at 5:28 am
Lets give these wonder workers even six months to “end homelessness”, then poll the local homeless as to whether or not they have seen even one pennys’ differance in making their lives’ better…… I think I can say right now, it wont-
This new “idea” comes from the same city that recently USED (as in take full advantage of) local homeless and down and out residents by luring them in with a easy meal just so they can register on the census…… The state gets more money by getting a higher headcount, then can go back to ignoring them and generally sweeping them under the rug like they dont exist.
Written by edzeplin on April 27, 2010 at 7:04 am
It’ll cost more than $75 to administer every $75 donated. This is worse than the average charity scam. The people who need the money won’t get it. The people administering the programs will get paid more than is donated. Taxpayers will subsidize the payment of administration costs. These “meters” will only make a few bureaucrats feel good.
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on April 27, 2010 at 7:31 am
Okay, Rex…. I gotta chime in on this….
This “Feed A Parking Meter For The Homeless” is total crap. And you’re right. It is susceptible to abuse. There is no guarantee it will go to the cause it is designated for. Plus, they are setting themselves up for a lawsuit. Because, if you ask me, there is the possibility of abuse of this thing.
And I must admit that I am a bit biased too. I have dealt with (extensively) at one time homeless along and outlying around the Strip.
I NEVER EVER give them money. To hell with ‘em.
Because 99 percent of the time, you give a homeless person in Las Vegas money, it don’t solve a damn thing. Why? Because (and you gotta look at it in their eyes….because this is how they think) if you give them money, it only fortifies in their mind to authorize them to be homeless that much longer. Perhaps they buy it on liquor and/or drugs, but one thing is for sure…they won’t change. They WANT to be homeless. At least the ones around the Strip are like that.
I do know that they fight amongst each other. Especially around the first of the month. When they receive their Social Security, disability or what have you when they pick it up at a general delivery mail box. Then, each of them finds out the other has money, they try to rip each other off.
And don’t kid yourself. The ones I have run into? They all carry knives. For protection. Because of the aforementioned.
There is this jaded view of homeless in Las Vegas (especially the ones along the Strip) that is not true. Not true at all. It deals with mentai problems, drugs, alcohol, anti-socialism, you name it. And there ain’t nothing you or I can do to fix it. Only THEY can fix it. When they finally wake up and smell the coffee.
I remember I came out of the Best Buy on Maryland Parkway (close to Flamingo) walking to my car one time. This homeless derelict followed me the whole way going, “Sir! Sir! Excuse me, sir!” I ignored his dumb ass all the way to my car. Until I couldn’t ignore him anymore. When I got close to my car, I sighed in exasperation because this fucking knucklehead is relentless on his attempt to beg money from me. He looks at me with that puppy dog sorrowful fucking look and says, “Can you give some spare change to a Veteran?” I didn’t say anything. I pointed at my license plates.
He hauled ass and ran away from me!
My license plates are Navy Veteran Nevada plates (I’m retired Navy).
When I pointed at my plates, it just confirmed to me when he ran away that he was not a Veteran of any type of military service at all. Basically, he didn’t want to compare notes with me. Because I would have confirmed he was full of shit.
So, the moral to the story is that homeless will tell you any fucking thing they want. Especially if it will get them some money slapped in their hand.
I have contemplated making a t-shirt that says, “I DON’T GIVE MONEY TO HOMELESS PEOPLE! AND YES, THAT MAKES ME A BAD MAN!”
I don’t care. I’m heartless. I gotta do this shit called life the hard way. So should they. FUCK ‘EM! Most of the ones I run into here in Las Vegas chose to not work. More power to them. Just don’t come to me to support their inability to work.
So, more power to them if they hang around green ass parking meters and suck Mayor Goodman’s….ummm…..well you know. If they do unnatural sex acts with the Mayor to receive free handouts.
Okay, Rex. I’m through with my tirade. Nice article. Enjoyed it. (smile)
Written by tully on April 27, 2010 at 11:25 am
Sometimes wondered if ole Oscar’s aversion to the homeless isn’t a bit of “there but for the grace of god, go I.”
If the guy didn’t have the ability to schmooz and BS; didn’t have the deficient moral compass that allowed him to rep the Mob; and given his love of gin; where the hell do you think he might have ended up?
The line between Hizzoner and the homeless drunk is probably pretty thin.
Written by Wolynski on April 27, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Very funny.
Colin from Vegas is a little harsh… yeah right, the homeless want to be homeless… if I hear one more asswipe say the poor want to be poor…
Written by keith on April 27, 2010 at 12:32 pm
hey rex, next time i’m in town, let’s get a pipe cutter and “cool hand luke” those fucking donation meters.
seriously, how long before a homeless guy(s) figure out how to open those things up and help themselves to the money anyway?
and why do i see Mayor Bloomberg doing the same thing in NYC?
Written by JTWill on April 27, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I live in a medium sized midwestern city that doesn’t have a very big problem with homelessness and/or panhandlers, but they do exist in small numbers. I try to be as benevolent as possible and figure in most cases I would rather give a buck or two to somebody who is scamming me than pass up the opportunity to help somebody who really needs it.
There are exceptions though. I refuse to give money to the lady that hangs out near my office building obviously tweaking for her next fix of crystal meth. I am also sickened by all of the non-veterans that play the “homeless veteran” card simply because it’s effective in guilting people into giving them money. Just be honest and ask for help. Don’t make up a story that isn’t true. I’m 42 years old and had a guy who was approximately the same age as me try to tell me he was a Vietnam vet. I had my hand in my pocket ready to pull out a couple of bucks for the dude until he dropped that one on me. I replied, “Excuse me? The Vietnam War ended in like 1973. You would have been in grade school. You really need to get a new line of BS.”
An interstate off-ramp near my home is another popular place to panhandle. One guy that was frequently there had a sign that indicated he was a homeless vet. On it he had drawn the globe, anchor, and eagle insignia of the U.S. Marines. A buddy of mine that is a Marine and veteran of Desert Storm stopped, rolled down his window and asked, “So…you’re a jarhead?” The guy was utterly confused and didn’t recognize any of the other familiar nicknames for Marines. My buddy was incensed. He got out of his car and told the guy that he’d better not see him impersonating somebody who had actually put their life in danger to defend our country again or he would show him some of his Marine training first hand. I haven’t seen that guy at that off-ramp since.
Written by J. Louise on April 27, 2010 at 1:25 pm
You’re 100% right–when I first heard the story I couldn’t believe they actually said with a straight face that the money would go to the homeless. That’s the last place money goes. Even non-profits that help the homeless give very little to the homeless and skim the rest, which I saw first hand when I worked for a well-known religious charity in Las Vegas. I saw how the sausage was made!
Written by coolpacific on April 27, 2010 at 7:38 pm
There was a time when to be homeless was shameful. If you were homeless, you would do any and everything in your power to overcome that. Today, I see it as more of a lifestyle (I am serious). I have been ridiculed walking to my office job by homeless people, laughing while I go sweat it out for the man. Our downtown is riddled with do-nothings who don’t look like they’re missing many meals. I may be a corporate whore, but my kids still hug me when I get home.
In my hometown (Calgary) we have gone through – until 2008 – an unprecedented level of growth. For a while 7-11 clerks we getting 4 figure bonuses if they made it to 6 months (on top of $12/hr). Yet, we still had panhandlers and many jobs went unfilled.
Drugs and alcohol are no excuse and help is out there for people with psychological/mental health issues. I read a book by Anthony Bourdain, a celeb-chef who was strung out on heroin for a good chunk of his life until he kicked it cold turkey. In it, he claims that you cannot help the addict with money or free housing; either he wakes up and snaps into it or he doesn’t. The former addict had no sympathy for the current one.
Written by james on April 27, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Keith,
I was thinking the same thing. Now, if a homeless person pries open one of these meters, is it considered theft or is it serving its purpose?
Written by happylongmeadow on April 28, 2010 at 12:32 am
The meter holds $75.00.
Discounting installation, repairs, and maintenance:
One person hired to empty the collection meters on a daily basis.
One person to supervise the worker.
One vehicle to travel in, plus insurance and fuel.
Than the “cashier” to handle, sort, wrap, and deposit the American coins. Storage space to accumulate the foreign coins.
How much can be left for the homeless, before the creative accountants and bean counters get their hands on the money?
Written by wrxrob on April 28, 2010 at 3:01 am
this is more obvious than the planet aid clothing donation boxes, and yes, planet aid is a scam. look up tvindalert for teh exposure.
Written by james h on April 28, 2010 at 4:14 am
seems if denver has this same program already in place, with 86 meters plus donations they raise about 100, 000 dollars a year…they get local organizations to sponsor a meter for 1000 dollars each…so it seems that would be the first 86,000 dollars and i guess the meters bring in the other 14,000 dollars… their goal is to bring attention to the plight of the homeless and foster creative ways to raise money to help the homeless…they do not say if any of the money collected in the meters actually goes to the homeless…it kinda seems that the money goes toward finding new ways to raise more money, to find new ways to raise more money, to find…………and on and on….
Written by FleaStiff on April 30, 2010 at 3:02 pm
>an unnecessary City Hall with $146 million in taxpayer money. This equates to $11,230 per homeless person
Who cares about the homeless!
How much does it equate to for each building inspector? Each contractor? Each Nephew or Brother-In-Law of a Judge?
Written by SPRUNT on May 1, 2010 at 7:15 pm
This is why I don’t give to charities. They tend to serve themselves far more than who they claim to help.
When I worked downtown there were a couple of corners that always had hobos on them. Since my work provided free beverages I would often grab one or two to give away. In the winter i would grab a cup or two of hot chocolate. While I’m sure they would rather have gotten cash, they were always thankful and I had piece of mind about how my “donation” was being used.